After ringing in the new year last Sunday, the first full week of 2012 was an interesting week.

We saw the Premier League race get even more insane, David Beckham announce he's staying, Luis Suarez say he's accepting his suspension, Thierry Henry officially rejoin Arsenal and Paul Scholes come out of retirement.

We also saw the return of football in both Serie A and La Liga, with the competition levels only getting stronger in the weeks ahead.

With the start of a new year, here is my recap of the first week of 2012.

Jan. 2: Arsenal Lose at Fulham

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Arsenal 1, Fulham 2

It was Arsenal's first match of 2012, and the Gunners were able to get on the board early thanks to a tally from Laurent Koscielny. However, Arsenal were denied any more goals thanks to the heroics of Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale.

Late in the second half, Johan Djourou was sent off for a second bookable offense for bringing down Bobby Zamora. This decision was able to spur Fulham on, and former Arsenal reject Steve Sidwell scored the tying goal for Fulham five minutes from time.

In the second minute of stoppage time, Zamora secured the win for Fulham with a shot from six yards out, that easily found its way into goal.

Jan. 3: Liverpool Get Wrecked at Manchester City

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Manchester City 3, Liverpool 0

With the news that Luis Suarez was going to miss his next six matches, no one knew exactly what was going to happen with Liverpool. The same was true with Manchester City, but in a different way, after losing 1-0 on a late winner by Ji Dong-Won.

However, Man City were able to get early goals from Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure to put themselves up comfortably against Liverpool. Even after losing Gareth Berry to a red card, James Milner was able to score to give City a 3-0 win over their northern foes.

Jan. 4: Newcastle Defeat Manchester United

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Newcastle 3, Manchester United 0

After United failed to take all three points against Newcastle at Old Trafford several weeks ago and the Red Devils' New Year's Eve loss to Blackburn, it was expected that United would respond with a win at St. James Park.

However, Demba Ba and Newcastle had completely different plans.

In his final match before the African Cup of Nations, Ba scored a fantastic strike to give Newcastle a 3-0 lead at the half. The Toon doubled their score in the first minutes of the second half on a superb free kick by Yohan Cabaye.

Newcastle sealed the win in the 90th minute on an own goal by Phil Jones that was a result of some horrible communication.

Jan. 4: Tim Howard Scores for Everton

It is not often that goalkeepers score in the Premier League. However, Everton's Tim Howard became the first keeper in the EPL to score since Paul Robinson did so back in 2007.

With the ball passed back to him, Howard cleared the ball, where it traveled over 70 yards before taking a giant bounce that flew over Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan and into the net.

Howard became the second American goalkeeper to score in the Premier League (Brad Friedel did so in 2004), but similar to Friedel, Howard went on to lose the match thanks to goals from David Ngog and Gary Cahill.

Jan. 7: FA Cup Upsets

A record 763 sides have entered the FA Cup this season, yet the first day of the FA Cup brought some memorable results.

This was most notably highlighted by Wigan Athletic falling out of the competition to League Two side Swindon by a 2-1 scoreline thanks to goals from Alan Connell and Paul Benson.

Two other Premier League sides were held to draws by weaker opponents. Bolton drew 2-2 with Macclesfield Town, while QPR drew 1-1 with MK Dons, with the Premier League side starting many of their regulars.

Jan. 8: Paul Scholes Comes out of Retirement

It's not often that we see a legendary player such as a Paul Scholes come out of retirement, yet that is what we saw before Manchester United's match with Manchester City in the FA Cup.

There were rumors throughout the week that Scholes could return to United, but very few people could have imagined in their wildest dreams that Scholes would begin the match on the bench wearing No. 22, a number he had not worn since the mid-1990s.

It's rare that a club gets two straight matchups against arch rivals, yet Manchester United and Liverpool will meet at Anfield on either Jan. 28, 29 or 30.

Not all of the matchups are official yet, but another strong matchup could happen if QPR win their replay with MK Dons. They will then face Chelsea at Loftus Road in what could be John Terry's return to the ground after allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand there during a Premier League match earlier this season.